I don't know if it is possible...but putting up an elk fence of 8' plus might be the only way of actually getting the produce from your garden and also being able to grow the perennials that you like. Around here, for the deer, I own a dog, but also spray with an egg mixture. The protein in the egg is what deters the deer. So, whip the egg and add it to a 4 litre jug of water. Shake and spray on your plants. This has to be reapplied after a rain as it washes off the plants. Some people add all kinds of other things to the egg solution which are not necessary like garlic, cayenne pepper, etc etc.as it is the protein in the egg that deters the deer. In raised beds you will have to plant the perennials away from the edge, only planting the hardiest of the hardiest close to the edge. As you are so far north, I wonder if all the same plants that I sent to one of the Far North gardeners who lives in Thompson, Manitoba would also do just fine at your place. I sent her Siberian irises, miniature SDB and MDB irises, hens and chicks, Crater Lake Blue veronica and some creeping sedums. Peonies should do just fine for you there, although you will need more than a few inches of soil for them. For daylilies try to get more of the dormant diploids or the tetraploid diploids, maybe semievergreen....but generally stay away from the tetraploid evergreen ones as they like warmer temps. There again...deer love daylilies! Deer also love delphiniums...which I can attest to. If you are wanting to grow delphiniums try the New Millenium series as they are generally shorter, have a much sturdier stem and have many more flowers on the stems than the Pacific Giants. So, if you are going to grow any delphiniums, start with the New Millenium ones. Hope that this helps. Brenda

Well I'm NOT a blue person. Indoors I have NO blue. My husband doesn't understand this. I have no idea why I feel this way. Outdoors things are different! I have a blue/yellow/white garden bed which I love. Yes, delphineums, catananche, campanulas, baptisia and more, are mixed with trollius, coreopsis moonbeam, peony Claire de Lune and low growing white clematis and aquilegia. It is a big mix and wouldn't be any fun at all without the blue! There are loads of clematis that are purple or blue/purple, but also some very nice blues I think. You do get into the question of "what is blue?" My husband and I think this could well be a male/female issue! Also, by saying a flower is blue, perhaps a catalogue gains more sales? * Posted by: coolbeans (My Page) on Sat, Feb 2, 02 at 13:12 This is my VERY favorite thread, and I totally agree with all those who feel that there is just "something" about blue flowers; they ARE magical, they ARE very special; and they make me happier than any other color flower. Don't know why...I just started a flat full of Bluebird delphinium seeds I saved from my one lonely plant last year. A bunch of them germinated, so now I can't wait to have a huge stand of them! Maybe they won't bloom this year, but maybe they will. And also "true blue" penstemons, I'm trying for the first time. I can't get enough of this precious color. * Posted by: Anne_Marie_Alb (My Page) on Tue, Feb 5, 02 at 17:47 WOW....... Did anyone realize that this thread started almost 5 years ago... on Feb. 15, 1997!!!!! I am amazed it has survived that long. Probably, the oldest thread still on the top page! I wonder if "Clare B" (who started the thread) is still an active member of the Garden Web!!! I personally love blue flowers (I mean blue, and not purple, which I also like). I can't believe how many blue flowers I am starting from seeds this year... and that was just a pure coincidence! I also love RED flowers.. Maybe, I should start a "red flower" thread! I will first check the archives! * Posted by: Clare (My Page) on Thu, Feb 7, 02 at 20:34 Yes, Ann_Marie, I am still here! I will be a bit sad to see this thread fade away when it hits the 100 posts mark. After that, the threads are closed. I don't think I have any true blue flowers still. "Victoria Blue" Salvia is the closest thing. I use it a lot. It is such a heavy, long bloomer, and about one in twenty of them will survive winter here. Just wish I could predict which would survive so that I could save seed from those alone and perhaps work up a more hardy strain. By the way, the Hydrangeas in Memphis, Tennessee are incredible. Some are so saturated blue that I'd have to call them navy. * Posted by: Dswan (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 22:37 I'm going to add to this extremely long thread only because there really is something to true blue. I grow from seed a very difficult plant to propagate called Penstemon cyananthus or Wasatch Penstemon. I cold stratify and plant these every year in hopes of gettting one or two in my garden every year. Absolutely gorgeous. * Posted by: Rosa (My Page) on Mon, Mar 11, 02 at 10:24 Did no one mention Gentians-now those are blue! (along with my favorite penstemson of course-some are indeed blue). * Posted by: pineshade7b ) on Mon, Apr 15, 02 at 11:02 i agree with gloria mc coy. i love blue and green , they are my favorite colors in anything. just look in my house and closets. blue..ocean, blue jeans, my own eyes are blue and my husband's are green. many reasons to answer -why blue. although i do not "hyperventilate" , if i should go into a nursery and ask for a blue -flowering plant and the staff looks down their nose at me, i'll know now that they are only doing it because they think I'M a snob. until i adopted gardening as a serious hobby i had no idea that blue was a "snob" color. i just naturally began to look into flowers in the colors i liked personally. you learn something new everyday. i would have been hurt and confused to walk into a nursery and be looked at like a pariah, what did i say? now i know, thanks clare. * Posted by: DesertGardner (My Page) on Fri, Apr 19, 02 at 12:38 Wow - I never knew there was such a controversy over the color blue in the garden. After reading all the posts, I now understand why some gardeners prefer the color. And I have to say that I've never met any gardeners whom I would consider snobbish. Most of them are really quite down to earth! (if you pardon the expression...) I recently tried planting a red, white and blue flower bed, with 'Victoria Blue' Salvia being my blue color. It's a little too purple and doesn't look right as a "patriotic" design. I will probably tear out the red and white and keep the "blue" (purple) since it seems to like this desert heat. Someone mentioned black flowers, and I remembered seeing black pansies in the most recent Burpee catalog. They're a beautiful velvety black with a spot of yellow in the center. I think I'll plant some this winter, and start an obsession with black flowers! (just kidding Clare...) -Kara [* Posted by: yeona_sky (My Page) on Mon, Jun 24, 02 at 0:37 I just bought a blue poppy and am nervously watching its progress. My success with blues has been an up hill battle, but that hasn't changed my desire to spotlight it in my garden. Why blue?, again it's a passion with me. Clare, I hope you get the last word on this thread, and I hope you understand Why blue, a little better. * Posted by: Duster (My Page) on Wed, Jun 26, 02 at 23:56 I agree with the many others about getting annoyed when purple is referred to as blue. Maybe that's why I take up the cause of truly blue flowers! 99% of my Delphiniums are the true electric blue ones. I'd love one of the Himalayan Poppies but just not right for my little yard. I like the blue flowers, rather than the blue foliage plants. And no, blue is NOT my favorite color - I have nothing blue in my home decor. I just like the uniqueness of the TRUE blue and my stubbornness to get people to stop calling it purple!!!!

Thanks for the info! No, actually, I don't know very much of what's in the Park! When I'm out trippin' I do my best to avoid other human beings, and in summer there's no possible way to do that in RMNP! (But I can tell you just about anything you might want to know about the Four Corners area and all the Parks in southern Utah!) I checked the date on my pics, and it WAS in 2014 when the road was closed! TreeBarb and I were up there in fall to see the aspen! The Ranger I talked to made it sound like it would be AT LEAST a couple years, if not three, before Old Fall River was open again, and I had only ever been to the Alluvial Fan once and really wanted to go back, so was really disappointed that time! We'll (Barb & I) probably drive up there again sometime, so we'll see if we can find your "wildflower meadow!" Ok, I just pulled up the map (discovered that the link goes to the main page and you need to click on maps to get there!) and I'm trying to figure out where you mean! The only real "right turn" I'm seeing is just past what the map calls "Iceberg Pass," and then goes to a little sharp zigzag that goes to the right, makes a very sharp turn back to the left, and then another sharp turn to the right. Could that be the spot you're talking about? Just past there is something called "Lava Cliffs," which, actually, I don't remember ever noticing! About how far is the walk in? It sounds like a wonderful place to see--and I'm guessin' not very "peopled!" If I/we can find it, it sounds like a good place to check out! Wow, it sounds like you got away easy in The Floods! I'm down here in the "high, dry" far north end of Denver, and even I had wet carpet in the basement! You must be at a somewhat higher elevation than the town! Yes! Never again! WAY never again! I was out trippin' when "the floods" started, drove back home from Grand Mesa the "second day." It rained the whole way home, but I had been at a cabin that's TOTALLY incommunicado, so I didn't have a CLUE what was happening! By the next morning there was "standing water" all around my house--which is on, basically, level ground, with a slight slope to the street out front. The rain was just coming down too fast for it to drain off! If I hadn't made it back home the day I did I would have been "stuck" somewhere out in the mountains for the duration--possibly sleeping in my car! I didn't know for sure how much rain I got that first day, but the ground was already totally saturated when I got home, and I emptied my rain gauge a couple times the next day when it got to the top! I estimated I got 14" in 48 hours! Never again! Skybird

Dottie, I just plant my camellia seeds in a plastic nursery pot and leave it outside over the winter where it can get rained on, with a screen over the top to keep squirrels and other critters from disturbing them. They germinate in the spring. A long time ago I planted some seeds indoors in the greenhouse, but those were seeds I got from Camellia Forest that had been cold stratified in a refrigerator before I bought them. Camillia Forest says that they don't actually require a cold period but that it yields more reliable/consistent germination. Camellia Forest seed germination